From Library Journal
I'm always suspicious of a book that mentions a Nobel laureate, Hammurabi, the Spanish Armada, human evolution, and artificial intelligence all on the first page. Too erudite for a discussion of databases? Perhaps for ordinary databases, but this opus is concerned with intelligent databases--that is, databases that handle information as we (humans) do. Like computers, we are unable to store a lot of raw data at any given moment, but we can notice patterns and trends in a complex framework of numbers and facts, a trick difficult to program in a machine. This book makes the case for computers and people working together to take advantage of this dichotomy. Its 12 chapters break into three sections; the first introduces intelligent databases and their operation, the second provides models of intelligent databases and their interfaces, and the final examines how intelligent databases might work in real life. In spite of the terminology and phraseology--data fusion, information discovery, hyperinformation, and others (there should be a lexicon in the back)--the authors succeed in explaining their view of "oceans of data" well, thanks to lots of digestible illustrations and prose.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Focusing on the practical considerations involved in creating an actual intelligent database, this hands-on tutorial demonstrates how to utilize intelligent databases in order to solve critical problems that conventional databases cannot. Offers 10 basic principles guiding successful intelligent database construction as well as special chapters on data recovery tactics, information visualization and hypermedia interfaces. Packed with example applications ranging from project management and executive information systems to point-of-sale marketing and financial analysis.
